"This then is the custom of the Demons, that aChooser may not choose for herself?" Liliha asked after a long moment of silence.
"Because there were but four of us in the ship, andwe must each know certain things, yes, we were chosen by others."
"Ill doing." Liliha's voice was a hiss. "For when aChooser chooses in truth, she knows the worth of awarrior and he does not later become an enemy. I sorrow for you that this was so, that now you must eatbitterness and ashes." Her hand rested over Ayana's."It is well you do not have a youngling within you.'
"That is true," replied Ayana.
She was not left alone, nor was she still outwardly aprisoner. Oddly enough, she had no desire to leave.Liliha, Eu-La, the other cat-women who drifted intheir soundless way in and out, brought food, or simply came to sit and look at her (though she neverfound their curiosity rude or disturbing) were somehow comforting, though she could not have told why.Several brought babies, purred them to sleep orplayed with them. But after a space Ayana began toworry.
The memory of Tan and the Rattons, busy with thewar machines, was never erased from her mind,though she did sleep at last. And she drifted off to apurring song Liliha seemingly sang to herself as thecat-woman brushed the shining length of her tail.
There was only the gray light of early dawn coming through the windows when they roused her. Lilihawas there, and, by the door, the cat-man she had seenwith the scarred older warrior, the young one who hadbeen present before when they had questioned her.He was making the small, almost yowling sounds oftheir excited speech, and Liliha used the translator.
"The Ancestor would speak with you—it is very urgent."
The male crossed the room with lithe strides, holding the translator. Ayana noted that his strange clawweapons hung from his belt, that belt which was hisonly clothing. For, though the cat people appeared tovary in the amount of natural fur on their bodies,nearly hairless like Liliha in some cases, or as deeplyfurred as this male, they wore no coverings.
They went along the corridors, down two ramps,and then climbed another for some distance, untilthey reached a room where there was a gathering ofwarriors, a sprinkling of females.
All were grouped about one male. He was a littlestooped, his muzzle fur frosted, his arms and legs thinand shrunken. About his bowed shoulders was a cloakof shimmering stuff, which set him apart from theothers, though his very air was enough to do that. Sherecollected having seen him much earlier, in that timeshe had been a bound prisoner.
This was Gammage who was their leader, or ruler, whose dream it was to reclaim the Demon knowledgefor his people.
He stared straight at Ayana as she entered. In one hand he held a translator disk, the box resting beforehim on the floor.
"They tell me," he began abruptly, "that you believe those in the ship have more knowledge of thesewar machines."
"That is so." Cat—man—mixture—there was something very impressive about this Elder. Ayana couldunderstand how he had managed to gather togetherseekers after knowledge and inspire them through theyears.
"Will they support the Rattons, or will they aidus?" He came directly to the point.
"I do not know, I can only ask," she said simply, asdirectly as he had asked.
Gammage made his decision. "Then that you shalldo."
Furtig crouched in the shadow of the doorway, one ofthe party that had escorted the female Demon out ofthe lairs. She stood out there alone now, in full sightof those in her ship. And the People had given herback the device to signal her companions. Furtig heldone of the lightning throwers. He could send thecrackling lash to cut down the Demon at the first suspicion of betrayal.
Liliha, though she was armed—so close to him nowthat when she moved the thin run of fur on the outside of her rounded arm brushed his—made no moveto draw her weapon. She had insisted that the Demonwas to be trusted, that she wanted indeed to halt theRattons and her own male. Though it was hard forthe warriors to accept such a turning against one'sown kind.
It would seem that this was a Chooser thing, alliedin a way to whatever moved them when they mademate choice. Liliha had sworn before the Elders, and it was very plain she believed what she said, that thisDemon, though she had chosen the male now preparing to send fiery death against them, had not donethat by her own willing and that she wanted no youngling of his.
Strange were the ways of Demons, strange evenwere the People's ways now. For their party had notonly been augmented by Ku-La's warriors, but, in addition, by those from the caves, who had finally arrived. And—in an opposite doorway—were Barkers!
Never had Furtig believed he would be allied in anyway with those. Yet Gammage and the two scouts rescued from the Rattons had convinced the Barkers tosend in a small pack, perhaps as observers only. Stillthey were warriors, and no real fight would leavethem lurking in the shadows.
A strange sound from the field—the bridge into thesky-ship was now dropping from the open hatch in itsside. The Demon need only to run up that to be safe.Furtig was not sure any of them could use the strangeweapons quickly enough to cut her down.
Liliha held to her ear one of the coms—as theDemon called them. Through that she could hear what the Demon said to her own kind. And she wasnot running, not moving at all. For some very long moments nothing happened. No one appeared in thehatch. All through those dragging minutes Furtig fully expected some awesome weapon to come into action,to their finish.
However, it would seem Liliha was right about thefemale Demon keeping to her word. At length a figureappeared on the ship's bridge, advancing slowly. Itwas muffled in clumsy wrappings so it hardly lookedlike a living thing, more like one of the unreliable lairservants.
It tramped down the ramp, strode ponderously toward the waiting Demon. While it was still somepaces away, its thick-fingered hands, almost as clumsy as Furtig's own when he tried to use some delicatelair tool, thumbed something at throat level. Thehead covering rose and flopped back on its shoulders.
"That is the other female," Liliha reported. "Theone Ayana calls Massa—"
Furtig supposed that among themselves the Demons had names as did the People, the Barkers, eventhe Rattons. But he had never thought of the enemyas living normal, peaceful lives—only as the evil creatures of the old tales.
Dolar was beyond Liliha. "What do they say?" herasped.
"The one from the ship asks questions— Where hasAyana been, what happens here. Now Ayana tells herthere is much danger, they must talk. She asks aboutthe other Demon—Jacel. Massa is angry. She saysthat he is ill, that Ayana must come and see to his illness. She asks where is Tan—there is anger in that.Now she says that Tan is the one who allowed theRattons to wound her mate. That he must be wrongin his head—"
"Twist-minded like the Demons of old," cut inDolar. "Mad—then dead. We must see to it that this time we are not also caught in that death! What saythey now?"
"Ayana tells Massa that there is great danger, thatTan will bring death unless he is stopped.
Massa sayslet Tan do as he will here, let them get on the shipand raise it into the sky, return to their own world—"
How easy that would be! Furtig growled, heard asimilar sound from Dolar. Easy enough for these Demons to lift, leaving the evil one to finish here. Andhow could any of the People stop him? Oh, theymight be able to blast these two females now. Thenthe one left in the ship—if he were sick perhaps hewas also twist-minded—might join the one in the lairsin loosing the weapons the ship carried—
"Ayana says ‘no’ " Liliha's voice quickened withexcitement. "She says that the one called Tan mustbe stopped. That they can never learn what theycame for—"
"And what is that?" demanded one of the warriorscrouched behind them.
"They came here—Ayana spoke with Gammage ofit this morning," Furtig answered, as Liliha was plainly intent on the com to her ear, "hunting two things—the reason their Ancestors quit this world, and an answer to an evil now destroying their new home amongthe stars. Gammage has promised that when we havebeaten the Rattons she may seek such knowledge."
"When we beat the Rattons—say rather if we beatthe Rattons!" commented someone else. Furtig sawthat speaker was Fal-Kan.
"Be that as it may, there is knowledge here thatthey seek," Furtig answered with not quite the deference due an Elder. "Gammage made a bargain withthis Demon. But she must persuade those in the shipto honor it."
"The one called Massa"—Liliha signalled for silence—"says she will do nothing until Ayana aids thesickness of her mate. If he is helped, then she willthink of this."
"If the Demon goes inside the ship we shall have noway to watch her!" Dolar instantly objected.
"She will not go alone." Liliha arose. "I go withher."
Into the private lair of the Demons? Furtig moved.He had already slipped his left hand into his fightingclaws. And in the other he had the lightning thrower.
"Not alone!" He thought his tone was not his usual one, but no one seemed to notice. Dolar twitched tailin assent.
Liliha handed the second com to the tough oldElder. "Set it so." She fitted it into his ear. "I do not know whether it will reach into the ship for you tohear. We can only hope it does."
Without glancing at Furtig, she stepped gracefullyout of the doorway, her tail curled upward a little as ifshe went with pleasure. Pride brought him level with her, trying to assume the same appearance of unconcern.
The Demon Massa saw them first, gave a cry, andAyana turned her head. Liliha, having no interpreterbox, pointed to her, the ship, and used hand language.
Ayana nodded her head. Furtig, with the other interpreter, caught fragments of speech. She spoke much faster than she did with the People, and so wasdifficult to understand."We will go to Jacel."
Massa turned, all those extra layers of loose skinmaking her move slowly. Ayana walked behind her,
Liliha and Furtig keeping pace. So they climbed theramp to the ship. Furtig's nostrils expanded, took in the many odors,most of them new, some disagreeable. There werestrange pole steps one must climb. He set the lightning thrower between his jaws, for he must use allfour limbs here. He hated the closed-in feeling of atrap that the cramped interior gave him.
Yet he stared carefully about him, intent on making good use of, this chance to see the marvels of theDemons, wishing he could understand it all better.
In the small side chamber where the other maleDemon lay in a niche within the wall, there was roomfor only the two females. But Furtig and Liliha couldwatch through the doorway. The Demon's face wasflushed, his head turned restlessly from side to side,his eyes were half open. But, though they rested onFurtig, there was no sign that the Demon really sawthe warrior.
Ayana was busy. She used a box from which wiresran to pads she held against the Demon's head,against his chest, watching the top of the machinewhere there sounded a steady clicking. Then she tookup two small rods, opened them to slide in even thinner tubes in which liquid moved as she turned them.The ends of the outer rods she pressed to the bareskin of the Demon, on his arm, on his chest, at onepoint on his throat.
Before she had finished, his head no longer rolled,but lay quiet, his eyes closed. Then she spoke toMassa, slowly, as if she wanted the People to hear andunderstand.
"He will sleep, and wake all right. It is an infectionfrom his wound, but not serious. This place is poisonous in more ways than one, Massa."
Massa had settled down beside the sleeping male,her hand over his, watching his face intently.
"Tan—Tan did this to him," she said. "What happened to Tan?"
"The same thing that destroyed those who remained here." Ayana put away the instruments.
"Madness. And now Tan is about to destroy even more. You will have to help stop him, Massa, help us—"
"Us? Us, Ayana? You are helping these—these animals?" The Demon Massa looked to Furtig and Liliha, and there was fear in her eyes.
"Not animals, Massa—people—the People. This isLiliha, Furtig." She motioned from one to the other."They have their lives and more than their lives atstake here. Our ancestors made them—"
"Robos?"
Ayana shook her head at that queer word. "No. Remember the old learning tapes, Massa?
Remember'cat' and 'dog' and 'rat'—and Putti, a dear friend?"
Furtig saw a little of the fear fade from the other'seyes, a wonderment take its place.
"But those were animals!"
"Were once. Just as we were once also. I do notknow what really happened here, besides the spreadof a madness, which wrecked a whole species and altered others past recognition. But whatever our ancestors loosed, or tried to do deliberately, out of itgrew the People who were cats, the Barkers who weredogs, and the Rattons—rats. And it is the latter Tandeals with—the filthy, merciless, torturing latter! Heuses their aid to start old war machines, planning towreck this world. Our ancestors left the company of those who began this grim wastage; we must stop itnow."
"I do not know how you have learned all this."Massa raised the hand of the sleeping Demon and held it to her cheek. "But Tan—he turned those evilRattons on Jacel. I owe him for that!"
Beside Furtig, Liliha stirred. She spoke in a smallwhisper. "This one did not have a mate chosen forher, or if she did, then her choice was the same. Shewill join us, I think, because she hates the ones whoharmed him."
Thus when they came forth from the ship againthey were not three but four. And all of them carriedboxes and containers Ayana and Massa had chosenfrom supplies.
They transported these to the place where Gammage had gathered his battle leaders. Not only wereElders of the Barkers there, keeping to themselves,watching the People from eye comers (as the Peoplesurveyed them in return), but also Broken Nosebrought in the pick of his warriors and they stood snuffling and grunting in one comer, their heavy tusked leader in the circle about Gammage.
While the Ancestor made hand and speech talk,deft-fingered In-born moved small blocks here andthere on the floor.